


Chocolat Chaud

by Akallabeth



Series: Les Misérables Fix Fic Game [4]
Category: Les Misérables (TV 2018), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Canonical cross-dressing for non-canonical reasons, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, References to police harrassment and how awful it is to be a street gamine in 1820s Paris, Siblings, hot chocolate for all the kids in the book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-20 22:16:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17630696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akallabeth/pseuds/Akallabeth
Summary: Éponine and her siblings get a needed break from grinding poverty and pervy old men.





	Chocolat Chaud

The trousers had been a good idea.

Wandering the streets in tattered skirts was risky enough with a home to return to.

Well, a room. "Home" it was not. 

But with their parents' arrests, Éponine and Azelma had lost even that marginal security. The bridges offered some cover from the rain, but little enough from the police. Or from the other denizens of the underclass.

Éponine's father had mentioned the sewers before. She hadn't attempted to venture there herself--she had no key, and the grates along the river reaked even more than the unwashed bodies huddling under the bridges--but there were nights when the idea of a lock and bars between herself and the law (and its opposite) was appealing.

Last night, however, had furnished her with a different sort of security.

The fellow was a stranger: as humbly dressed as the next workingman, but still frivolous enough to trade wool trousers and a shirt for her chemise and petticoat. Perhaps he was a poet, perhaps he was a criminal--not that speculating made a difference.

The trousers, however, did. 

Almost immediately, a well-dressed man offered her 10 sous to deliver a note. There had been a response; another 10 sous. Most profitable of all was the happy resolution of the affair, whatever it was: 5 whole francs put into her hand. (It was probably an affair and not a duel; duels tend to be arranged less ebulliently).

Six francs for an hour's work, and a night without being hassled by drunks or fleeing the police. Éponine could get used to this. 

She'd found a half-day's work loading wagons: a few more sous in her pocket. She could get Azelma a bed at Jeanette's tonight--it was pricy, but flophouses catering to women were few, and the bribes to avoid official harassment were not cheap.

Tonight was as far ahead as Éponine was willing to think. She had bread today. Tomorrow would sort itself out.

By chance, the sisters encountered their brother near the Place de la Bastille. Éponine had heard from Montparnasse that Gavroche had some sort of den in that neighborhood, but she'd never inquired further. When she met her brother, it was on his irregular visits to their mother.

Éponine didn't know why he bothered. She also didn't know why she stayed. 

But he was her brother, and she was happy enough to see him--even if he kept calling her 'monsieur' and making ridiculously exaggerated bows.

"Knock it off, Gavroche."

"But Monsieur, that is my sister you are walking with! And so shamelessly, in broad daylight."

Surprisingly, Azelma decided to join in.

"Urchin, you disrepect my escort. Hold your tongue, or I shall be forced to defend his honor!"

"Pistols at dawn?"

It was honestly good to see her brother and sister enjoying a moment of childishness. At least, it would be until they attracted enough attention to get one or all of them detained. Éponine steered them onto a side street and vaguely back toward Saint Michel. The cafe they were passing smelled delicious. It gave her an idea. 

"No, I really cannot allow mam'selle to duel such a rascal", Éponine declared, "but must challlenge you myself. The weapons will be _profiteroles_." 

Azelma gasped. 

They'd already eaten today, but Éponine had money, and her sister and brother were free (and their father wasn't). And if she needed more of an excuse, filling their mouths with pastry would end any suspiciously silly conversations. 

"The challenger doesn't chose the weapons", Gavroche objected. 

"But I'm paying. Do you refuse?" 

"I accept. I'm no coward!" 

"And he likes _profiteroles_ ", Azelma added. 

"Impugning my honor! I may have to duel you, too." 

"There will be no _profiteroles_ for anyone who duels Azelma", Éponine stated. 

"Even me?", Azelma asked. 

"Especially you." 

Gavroche apparently knew the cafe's waitress, and the siblings soon found themselves ensconced at a corner table, away from the drafts (and, incidentally, the windows).

"A plate of _profiteroles_ ", Gavroche ordered. 

"And hot chocolate for three," Éponine added.

**Author's Note:**

> To no one's surprise, this is the "Éponine/hot chocolate" fic pledge.
> 
> Hot chocolate for all the kids, courtesy of melle93.
> 
> One of my favorite underrated events mentioned in the brick is Éponine finding a random guy on the street to trade clothes with. 
> 
> This was meant to be fluff, but I'm currently reading Jill Harsin's "Policing Prostitution in 19th Century Paris", and my brain kept going dark places.
> 
> Knowing nothing of the chocolate versus coffee scene in Paris in the 1820s-1830s, I'm just going to pretend that this cafe serves both hot chocolate and pastries. Book recommendations on the subject are very welcome.


End file.
